Changes in technology have helped give those who work in the crime scene unit of the Midland Police Department an easier task at obtaining and verifying evidence that’s now collected.

Collecting DNA used to be by a blood draw, but supervisor David Clark said suspects and those involved are more apt to volunteering samples by a buccal swab in the mouth now than being poked with a needle at the hospital.

That simple change in collecting evidence has helped investigators over the years since individuals are more keen on forensic technology thanks to television shows on the subject.

One of the biggest challenges those in the crime scene unit said they have had to deal with is competing with the fictitious images and time constraints people have become familiar with on television shows.

“You don’t have everything at your disposal. It’s not immediate. It takes a lot of time and work,” Clark said.

It takes about an hour for crime scene specialists, like the newest member of the unit Kim Poole, to collect evidence from a scene. But, it still depends on the extent of the scene and the type of crime that was committed — whether that is a homicide, burglary or robbery — when gathering information.

With the Automated Fingerprint Identification System program, specialists collect as many fingerprints as they can to bring them back and match them through the statewide database.

“We lift what we can, but not all are AFIS-quality fingerprints,” Poole said.

Still, using the program is not as easy as it looks on television. Larry Shackelford, another specialist, said the fingerprints aren’t entered into the computer and a match isn’t found in 10 seconds telling who the suspect is.

“That’s not the way it is in real life,” he said.

Fingerprints are entered, and an initial list of ten possible candidates are sent back to the MPD office from the database in Austin within about five minutes. Specialists then have to manually find points of comparison and try to weed out those that aren’t matched correctly.

And specialists and detectives aren’t the only ones who collect fingerprints. Patrol officers sometimes also will collect them from minor cases and give them to the crime scene unit to evaluate.

The AFIS database has grown over the years, making it easier for specialists to match fingerprints and solve cases.

“It’s tremendously easier than sitting at a desk with a little glass and going blind looking at fingerprints,” said Shackelford, who has been working in the unit for 16 years.

And since the Texas Department of Public Safety started the system in 1993 with only a couple of million individuals and prints entered in, that number has now grown to several million, Clark said.

The Integrated AFIS program, used by the FBI, as also helped by providing the department access to the more than 100 million known individuals nationwide that can help MPD officials find people elsewhere in the United States.

In 2009, AFIS started entering palm prints into their database — something Clark said his specialists have also been collecting for years at scenes. When an individual is arrested at the jail, his or her palm prints are also taken.

“It’s a more complicated process ... but it’s one more tool to use,” he said.

Collecting information from cell phones has also helped the unit and investigators over the years while trying to solve crimes and cases. More than 80 percent of the recent cases have involved a cell phone and information retrieved from one.

Individuals enter their whole lives in their phones now, and many will say anything or what they’re thinking through a text message, said specialist Melissa Nay.

Last week, crime scene officials were called to assist at an attempted suicide incident. By collecting a cell phone at the scene, Nay said, the team was able to find a text message the victim had sent to his girlfriend the day before telling her that he would not be around the next day. From that same phone, Nay said they were also to find graphic images the male had taken of his girlfriend and, if she is found to be underage, the male could face criminal charges.

Cell phones have also helped to solve murders in the past year. Last spring, Deondre Smith sent texts to his girlfriend’s family telling them where and when he had killed Sheeva Sharda Miller and how they could find her.

Another incident involving evidence found on a phone was of a suspect who had recorded a video of himself sexually molesting a girl.

“Every evidence we need to convict people is on there now,” Nay said. “People put their whole lives on their phone.”

Crime scene specialists even have a way to retrieve photos and videos that may have been deleted off of a SIM card but say that if a text message has been deleted, it’s usually gone for good and cannot be retrieved.

Still, with all the new changes in technology to help make collecting evidence easier, Clark said his unit has to work up to higher standards because jurors now expect more because of how well-known the forensic field has become.

“They expect the fingerprints, the DNA, the shoe prints and ballistic,” he added.